The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing tobacco and more particularly concerns a method and apparatus for removing tobacco leaves from the stalk of a tobacco plant.
In the processing of tobacco, as for example burley tobacco, it is necessary to cut the tobacco plants in a field and to thereafter house the tobacco by hanging it in a barn for curing. After the tobacco is cured, the leaves of the plant must be removed or stripped from the stalk of the plant.
The stripping of tobacco accounts for a major component of the cost labor associated with processing tobacco. Statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture indicate that it takes approximately 130 hours to strip an acre of tobacco whereas it takes approximately 10 hours to cut it and 40 hours to house it. Escalating labor prices make the time required for stripping tobacco of increasing importance. It follows that reducing the labor time required for stripping may be of significant economic advantage.
The large time requirements of tobacco stripping occasionally cause problems of farmers in getting tobacco ready for market. After sufficiently curing in a barn, the tobacco is allowed to set in the barn until the occurrence of a wet humid period. A wet humid period permits the tobacco to come "in case", in which the humidity softens the tobacco so that it may be handled without breaking. If the tobacco is not "in case", it will be very brittle and will crumble when touched. It thus commonly occurs that weather conditions place stringent time requirements on farmers between the time the tobacco becomes "in case" and the opening of the tobacco auction (burley tobacco is sold each year at an annual tobacco auction). When the period for processing tobacco is insufficient for the large time required for stripping, the tobacco simply does not make it to market.
In the processing of tobacco, the farmer is also required to grade the leaves of the tobacco. The grade of a tobacco leaf is dependent upon its relative vertical position on the stalk. Going from the ground upwardly toward the tip (as the plant grows in the ground) are the following grades or types of tobacco: trash, flyings, lugs, bright, red and tip. The various grades of tobacco are segregated after removal of the leaves from tobacco stalk and separate grades are bailed separately, different grades sealing for different prices. Grading of tobacco places even further time burdens upon a tobacco farmer.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for expediting the process of stripping tobacco.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for reducing the manpower requirements for stripping tobacco.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for stripping tobacco more economically.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for grading tobacco efficiently.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus that permits stripping of tobacco in a wide range of humidity conditions.